Thread: Best Inverter for Computers

Hi Friend
Many of you must be using Inverter for Computers.

My questions are:-
1) Best inverter to run computer or laptop. Make and Model.
2)Is there any inverter available having built in stabilizer? Normally inverter will provide same output whatever it is getting as input.
3)Is there any stabilizer available to connect 850VA Inverter for constant input voltage to the inverter.

I heard su-kam inverter is having facility to run computer with a deep switch settings.

Waiting for your reply.

I run the following on one inverter without any stabilizer or UPS :

Two Dell desktop computers with 21" and 19" lcd monitors
One 32" LCD tv
Tata sky box
Two modems (Tata wimax and Mtnl adsl)
Two netgear wireless routers

All the above work on one single Inverter and it is a Luminous inverter with two Exide invatubular battries which come with 30 months warranty and the inverter is 1400va.

I had a Luminous UPS for the computers earlier but I took out the UPS because it was causing computers to restart when there was a fluctuation in voltage or when the inverter went on and off as and when electricity supply went on and off.

The back up I get is more then 12 hours because thats the longest power cut I have ever had since this thing was set up but I am sure it would last a lot longer then that if need be.

Ans 1) Havent used anything other then Sukam and Luminous so cant say about others but both of them are working fine for me. I use Sukam for the whole house and use a Luminous as mentioned above.

Ans 2) Your question is flawed! An inverter as I know does not have a stabilizer for when you have mains power and only provides you with backup power which is 240 and comes out of the battries.. For mains you would need a stabilizer which would correct the voltge for the whole house and would cost according to the load you want to run on it.. Some one please correct me on this if I am wrong.

Ans 3) I did not understand your question. Could you please rephrase it for me.

First of all, inverter is not meant for the computer. An inverter simply converts DC power from batteries (of a UPS) to AC (sine wave). What you need is a UPS.

A home UPS is different from the computer UPS.

In the computer UPS, the AC power is always charging the battery. It is never fed to the PC directly. The battery is connected to the inverter and inverter provides the power to the computer (or for that matter any device connected to it). Thus in case of a mains power down situation, the battery simply stops being charged but the connected device continues getting power from the inverter via batteries. Such a UPS is also known as online UPS. There is no interruption in power supply to the consuming devices. When the mains power comes back, the batteries simply start charging again. The same principle works in a laptop.

The home UPS, on the other hand is different. When the main power is ON, the house gets the power from mains. At the same time, batteries are being charged (in parallel). When the mains power shuts off, the internal circuits sense the loss of mains power. The relay switches to alternate circuit that activates the inverter connected to the batteries. The inverter now starts giving power to the house. There is a minor half a second or a second delay between switching from mains to battery and back again (when mains power is back on). This delay is OK for household units but not OK for computers. They may switch off during such outage and especially if the delay is long.

Now coming to your questions, I will rephrase "inverter" with "UPS":

a) The first question is a loaded question. There is no such thing as the best UPS. There are many good companies. I have APC at home. I have not had any problems so far in the last 9 years. Just changed battery once and I suppose that a new battery is due now.

b) No UPS has a built in stabilizer. But online UPS works like a stabilizer itself because the 12V battery will almost always supply 12V DC to the inverter and inverter will always convert it correctly to 230V AC. I do not have any stabilizer attached to my UPS. But then again, the power supply situation in Pune is comparatively better than other places.

3) There is no relation. If you are talking about "850 VA inverter", then probably you are talking about a Home UPS. As I said, the home UPS power is supplied by inverter only in case of power failure.

I Fully agree with just4kix.

Reps

Can't. Need to spread some

Thanks guys for all your valuable input.

I have sellected Su-Kam Falcon 800VA Sine wave inverter.

Now could you please suggest me the battery. I should be having 150Ah battery but confused I should go with Su-Kam battery or Exide.

If I go with Su-Kam then support will be easier, but if I go with Exide then in future may face support issue due to two diff vendor.

If anybody recently bought this product then please share the price as well.

Regards

So what the option to run a computer on Inverter?

get a inverter and a ups before the computer line ? cause retailers recommend not using any ups in inverter lines !

how much backup time can one get with a 800 va system with 500 Watts of load ?

Originally Posted by mynet

Thanks guys for all your valuable input.

I have sellected Su-Kam Falcon 800VA Sine wave inverter.

Now could you please suggest me the battery. I should be having 150Ah battery but confused I should go with Su-Kam battery or Exide.

If I go with Su-Kam then support will be easier, but if I go with Exide then in future may face support issue due to two diff vendor.

If anybody recently bought this product then please share the price as well.

Regards

You should stick to manufacturer recommended batteries. If you choose your own batteries, and if there is some snag later on, the UPS manufacturer will blame the batteries and the batteries manufacturer will prove how his batteries are working perfectly. This applies to Su-Kam or any other brand UPS.

Originally Posted by sb21pro

So what the option to run a computer on Inverter?

get a inverter and a ups before the computer line ? cause retailers recommend not using any ups in inverter lines !

Yes. It is true that an online UPS is not recommended in inverter fed lines.

Originally Posted by sb21pro

how much backup time can one get with a 800 va system with 500 Watts of load ?

I have no answer to this question. You may have to ask this to an expert. But as far as I know, the backup time depends upon the size of the battery bank. The bank contains several batteries are connected in series and parallel.

Serial connection boosts the voltage while parallel connection boost the current. Two 12V connected in series means that the total voltage is 24V. If the same batteries rated at a max of 8A are connected in parallel, the circuit will now be 12V and it will be able to provide a max current of 16A.

Note: Voltage is always supplied as a constant to the circuit while current is drawn as per requirements.

Thanks for suggesting same company battery, even I felt that. It is ok now, but may be in future I have to run between the companies.

Search Amitavasrivastava blog in google. I am unable to post the link. That site is having lot of info.

computer UPS have 20 mins back up
home inverter has 4 hours backup

i have fed the computer UPS from home inverter. so when power goes off, computer UPS gets power from home inverter for 4 hours.

is this set up ok?

recently, my HDD crashed. has it got anything to do with this set up?

Which ups are you using?
I have apc ups and apc strongly recommends that ups must only be connected to regular mains power line without any spike buster let alone an inverter.I in the begining had connected my apc ups to inverter and my smps was damaged.Hope it helps.

For years I have been using a 800VA Luminous inverter with a UPS switch and Luminous 150 amp battery to power my desktop computer, external BSNL modem and audio amp, a couple of ceiling fans and 3-4 CFL lights. In UPS mode the range of control is between 180-240v with output of 200-210v. In non-UPS mode the range is between 120-260 v with output of 200-210v. I do not use any UPS directly for the desktop computer. I have had no problems with my PC going off whenever there is switchover with grid electricity coming or going as the switchover is in a millionth of a second (and not half-second as stated by just4kix) and India made PCs can take that. In between the inverter and MCB connecting to light points of 6 amp I have a 2.5 KVA local stabilizer with range of 90-300 v giving an output of 210-220 v to take care of fluctuations/spike in the grid. If there is time lag in resetting voltage by the local stabilizer, the luminous inverter takes over for a second to two. However, I do not use high current household appliances on this particular MCB like a TV. All these and other appliances are connected to 15-16 amp MCBs (power) on the MCB board. I replace my inverter battery every 2-3 years and get a discount of Rs1500 for the old battery. A new 150 amp Luminous battery costs about Rs7500. All this is for Lucknow.